Communities

AMA Page

AMA: Cisco Meraki Head of Product Marketing, Grant Shirk on Product Marketing KPIs

July 6 @ 10:00AM PST

View AMA Answers

Cisco Meraki Head of Product Marketing, Grant Shirk on Product Marketing KPIs

Top Questions

What's your best product marketing 30-60-90 day plan to make a big impact at a new company?

I'm starting a new job next week! Would love to hear your top tips in general as well as at the director level.

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

Time for some radical transparency. I'm in the midst of this right now. Tomorrow is my 30-day milestone at Cisco Meraki. It's been an awesome first four weeks, and I'm really looking forward to what's next. (Shameless pitch - we're hiring, too!) The size of the company and team adds a laye......Read More

6752 Views

1 request

What should I include in my product marketing budget?

I already have things like Customer Visits, a Sales Enablement / Content Management tool, SKO, pricing model consulting.

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

Aim high, and ask for more than you think you'll need - but not by more than 15-20%. People will always be your biggest budget line item in PMM - we're the most valuable asset because structured thinking and positioning can't really be outsourced or delegated to software. However, key items that......Read More

813 Views

4 requests

How do you coordinate and work cross functionally with the product team to create commonly shared KPIs?

Any advice on KPIs tied to product launches?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

This idea of cross-functional KPIs is core to what makes PMM the most interesting and the most challenging function to quantify. But, you can do it! Two things I believe strongly: * Cross-functional (or shared) KPIs are the most powerful KPIs any business or team can measure, because they'r......Read More

598 Views

2 requests

What are some of the *worst* KPIs for Product Marketers to commit to achieving?

There are many questions about the best KPIs to track, but none about the worst.

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

Well, to quote Rush, "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." I would say the worst thing you can do is not commit to something. Pick one and roll with it - you can always adjust if it doesn't fit the business. Owning a number is the best way to establish leadership and priori......Read More

696 Views

5 requests

How do you think about KPI's for product launches, balancing awareness, demand gen and pipeline?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

Going to take my time with this one, as I think it combines a number of the other topics, but it's also critical, because PMM often sits at the center of all these things. * Product launches are a big tentpole event in the lifecycle of a company and a product. Done right, they should drive t......Read More

931 Views

2 requests

How did you get started in Product Marketing? Any advice for people breaking in?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

One, I have never met two PMMs who came to product marketing through the same path; and two, the metrics you care most about are deeply influenced by your product, market, and customer. The short version is I fell into it, and then fell in love with it. The longer version: I started my career i......Read More

915 Views

3 requests

Other marketing roles have clear KPIs; PMM is the only role where we have multiple KPIs. Is there one or two that is critical for PMMs?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

I am a huge proponent of shared KPIs. Like Product Managers, Product Marketers often have to work through and influence other teams in order to reach their goals -- and, more aspirationally, to help their customers reach their goals. Shared metrics have superpowers. They drive alignment, account......Read More

1011 Views

2 requests

Can you tell me the three critical KPIs that I can bring to the CMO or CFO to prove the value of PMM?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

There are two questions buried in here. If you are truly in a situation where your leadership doesn't understand the impact of Product Marketing, are you in the right position? Product Marketing is challenging enough when you have buy-in and support from your leaders. I'd question why this is......Read More

905 Views

2 requests

I'm working at a start-up, and a first PMM hire; what KPIs should I own and not own?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

First and foremost, don't commit to any metrics until you really understand the current customer, buying cycle, and GTM approach, and have a point of view on what needs to change. I'm making a few assumptions here that as a "first in" you're further along on your career journey and have a sense o......Read More

925 Views

5 requests

I'm a first-time PMM leader at a pre-IPO company; what KPIs should I own and not own?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

This is related to that "first PMM" problem, but it's amplified as a leader. Product marketing at a startup needs to drive the conversation about who you're marketing to, why they care, and how you're unique, but you have to do that quickly and show some early wins. If you're stepping in to help......Read More

941 Views

2 requests

There's always a new topic (or sales ask) to cover. How do determine the team has covered one "enough" and balance the need for breadth versus depth?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

This is what makes PMM so fun. And also a little chaotic. You're frequently context-shifting between strategic investments (a 12- to 18-month horizon), quarterly operational work (those "big rocks" and Tier 1 launches), and the daily/weekly/monthly execution below the scenes. And then a compet......Read More

1105 Views

2 requests

How would you approach this product marketing interview assignment?

I interviewed earlier this year and did well except for this assignment. I'm hoping to better prepare for similar situations. Here's the quest: As mentioned, the next part of this process is to complete a brief assignment. The purpose of this assignment is just to see your methodology get some insight into your approach to tasks. For this assignment, I'd like for you to create a high-level go-to-market plan and strategy for our flagship product our event marketing platform. Our company traditionally has targeted enterprise b2b companies. I'd like you to come up with high-level messaging, define who the target audience is, and then detail your strategy for informing the market about our event platform and getting more leads. Please identify which channels you would use, and what you would need for this go-to-market launch. Please keep your response under 2 pages

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

Pulling this one up. It's outside the realm of KPIs and measurement, but I think it's really critical. And I have a few strong opinions here. If I can summarize this back, as part of your interview process, you were given an assignment to build an overall strategic plan to take a flagship pro......Read More

1869 Views

3 requests